Apologetic stance will not appease our adversaries

USA, India and UK befooled Musharraf led regime to be its friends because of which the CIA and FBI were granted unlimited freedom to operate inside Pakistan. Musharraf was advised not to trust India since it is more cunning than a fox but riding on a high saddle he ignored saner advices and went ahead inking peace deal with India in January 2004 to make eastern border including Kashmir quiet.

India extracted far too many concessions from fawning Musharraf without giving anything in return. Having lulled our leadership into snooze, fenced the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir, got all Jihadi outfits operating in occupied Kashmir banned and accounts frozen, forced Pakistan to stop cross-LoC movement, got education syllabi revised to stamp out concept of Jihad, India then began to work on its game-plan to soften Pakistan from within and eventually denuclearise and truncate it.

While Muslim extremists? irked western and Hindu worlds, the liberal ruling class in Pakistan hated them with same intensity and persecuted them ruthlessly. On the other hand Hindu extremists advocating Hindutva and indulging in genocide against Indian Muslims and other non-Hindu minorities including low caste Hindus were patronised by Indian ruling elite. No complaint was ever made by Pakistan or by the western world. The BJP which is godfather of several Hindu extremist parties like RSS, VHP and Shiv Sena, during its rule from 1998 till 2004 enforced Hindutva strictly in all the states where it had formed governments. The demolition of Babri Mosque in 1992, five nuclear tests in May 1998, shooting down of Pakistan Navy Atlantic plane in August 1998, Gujarat massacre of Indian Muslims in February 2002, ten-month military stand off in 2002, slaughter of Pakistanis in Samjhota Express in February 2007 and many other offensive acts go to the discredit of BJP. The Congress is no less hostile since Pakistan had been cut into two in 1971 by Indira led Congress regime. Her son Rajiv had come close to third round in 1986 and 1990.

Disregarding its own perverse role, Indian leaders hold responsible Lashkar-e-Taiba (Let) and the ISI for any terrorist act taking place in India. Terrorist attacks on Indian parliament in December 2001 and on Samjhota Train in February 2007 in which 69 Pakistanis were burnt to death by Hindu extremists are cases in point. The Taliban and ISI are blamed for any act of terror in Afghanistan.

Suicide attack on Indian Embassy in Kabul in July 2008 is case in point. In no case India could provide any proof to substantiate allegations. The chief motive is to get ISI declared a terrorist outfit and thus defang it with the assistance of USA.. Their efforts had almost succeeded when PM Gilani issued orders to place the ISI under Ministry of Interior but reversed his decision because of domestic backlash. Once again Manmohan Singh led Congress regime has upped the hype and has created a warlike situation in the wake of Mumbai attacks on 26 November. The LeT and ISI have been blamed without providing any concrete evidence.

Emulating USA, India has described Pakistan as the epicentre of terrorism and has desired to carryout surgical strikes against suspected targets on the pattern of drone attacks. It has also demanded extradition of 20 Pakistanis and has got Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) and two other religious groups engaged entirely in welfare and charity works placed on UNSC terrorist list on the plea that these are linked with LeT. To further inflame the volatile situation, two Indian jets menacingly entered Pakistan?s airspace to test the alertness of PAF but turned back when it found that PAF jets had scrambled.

Despite meek stance adopted by Pakistan?s leadership and having taken host of steps in the form of crackdown against members of JuD, putting its leaders under house arrest and banning it without receiving any evidence from India, the Indian leadership is dissatisfied and say that Pakistan still needs to do a lot more. They haughtily add that they don?t need promises but desire concrete results. The peace process has been put on the hold till the fulfilment of Pakistan?s commitment of not allowing its territory for terrorist attacks against India. In this regard India wants all infrastructures of so-called terrorist groups that were banned in 2001/02 to be dismantled and the ISI pulverised.

After Condi Rice veiled threat, British PM Brown espoused the cause of India and pressed Pakistan to take physical acts to defuse tension. Other visitors from USA, UK and Sweden too exerted pressure on Zardari. US Senator John Kerry let the cat out of the bag when he reiterated Indian stance of bringing ISI under civilian control and disallowed to operate independently. He affirmed that LeT was ISI creation which India accuses of planning Mumbai attacks. If ISI is to be defanged for patronising LeT, CIA too should be held equally guilty since it was party to its creation during Afghan Jihad. CIA has throughout its history indulged in covert operations to topple democratic regimes and bringing in dictators to serve American interests. Undesirable leaders refusing to tow US dictates were assassinated or got hanged as was the case with ZA Bhutto, Gen Ziaul Haq and Saddam Hussein. CIA engineered Ojhri camp disaster in April 1988 to deprive Pakistan of weapon stocks particularly stinger missiles. RAW too is notorious for clandestine operations in the region. Both CIA and RAW in concert are presently engaged in subversive activities in Pakistan to destabilise it. RAW too should be given similar if not worst treatment for patronising Al-Zulfiqar, MQM, BLA and TTP and for destabilising Baluchistan, FATA and Swat.

Our leadership breathlessly assure each visitor from USA, UK and other western capitals that Pakistan will not allow its soil to be used for terror activity against any neighbour but get out of breath when it comes to seeking similar assurance from other side. Indian jets intrusions were termed by Zardari and Gilani as a technical error, implying that the acts were not provocative but inadvertent. They have thus become the spokespersons for India and are defending their cause instead of Pakistan. Disempowerment of ISI has remained one of the agenda of PPP. Benazir had tried through retired Lt Gen Kalu and Air Marshal Zulfiqar but failed. Zardari could be wishing to complete the unfinished agenda since the PPP as well as the MQM and ANP do not feel easy with ISI.

In spite of the fact that India has removed the mask of friendship and has come out in true colours, and USA and UK have displayed their traditional bias towards India by saying that steps taken by Pakistan are insufficient and should do more, our leaders continue to treat them as friends. They are receiving lashes uncomplainingly and without a whimper in the vain hope that their apologetic attitude would evoke sympathy in the hearts of the persecutors.

They not only accept allegations but promise to take rectification measures to the satisfaction of accusers. They do not pickup courage to show mirror to the detractors and are constantly ceding ground to appease them not realising that the adversaries of Pakistan would neither get appeased nor rest till the accomplishment of all their objectives. Gradually they have come out of the mode of submissiveness but Foreign Minister Qureshi is the only exception who speaks authoritatively. Armed forces have as usual taken the right course and the ground and air forces have been alerted to take the challenge boldly. Their spontaneous response to Indian belligerence has electrified the nation and each citizen imbued with deep sense of patriotism has expressed his eagerness to give shoulder to the military and to defeat the evil designs of the adversaries.